Question leak gives no respite

Nahid’s resignation demanded in JS

Four teachers were detained in Faridpur on charges of leaking questions and solving them during English first paper of the ongoing Secondary School Certificate examinations on Monday, with no end in sight to the menace.The allegation surfaced when guardians claimed that multiple choice question of Bangla first paper on February 1 and Bangla second paper on February 3 were leaked on social media before the exams started and they matched the question given to the examinees at halls.All these are happening when the education ministry has made a series of arrangements, which include closure of coaching centres during exams and students needing to take seats 30 minutes ahead of the beginning of the exams and enhanced monitoring while opening question packet, to prevent question leak.Jatiya Party lawmaker Ziauddin Ahmed in Jatiya Sangsad on Monday demanded resignation of education minister Nurul Islam Nahid for failing to check question leak.He said, ‘Question leak has now turned epidemic.’ Academicians have raised question about the credibility of examination in the wake of widespread allegations of question leak.Government denial of the allegation is making the menace even worse as guardians allege that that government lacks willingness to stop it.Faridpur’s Boalmari upazila nirbahi officer Begum Rawshonara Pali told New Age that they detained four teachers from two exam centres while preparing solution to the English first paper question during exam.Satour High School teacher Plabon Gosh, Boalmari Government Girls High School teachers Raich Uddin, Salman Mahmud and George Academy teacher Shahin Fakir were handed over to police, Rawshonara Pali said. The four were detained from George Academy and Boalmari Government Girls School exam centres while leaking question and preparing solution to the English first paper question, George Academy centre secretary MA Aziz said.Guardians alleged that Facebook groups ‘Psc Jsc Ssc Hsc Job Degree HonrsNebondon Polytechnic Reall Out Question’ at 11:30am and ‘All Exam Suggetion Roki Vai’ at the same time claimed that English first paper question matched with the question leaked at WhatsApp group ‘English Ist Part 2018’ at 8:30am.Dhaka education board secretary and acting chairman Shahedul Khabir Chowdhury told New Age that they got the allegation of question leak of English first paper but did not find any similarity between the leaked and original question.‘The four teachers in Faridpur were carrying smart-phones at the exam centre while education ministry banned smart phones at the centre,’ he said.Speaking on a point of order, lawmaker Ziauddin Ahmed said question leak in different examinations had turned epidemic and demanded resignation of the education minister. He also called upon prime minister Sheikh Hasina to sack Nahid and appoint another minister to save student’s education life.‘The education minister has declared a Tk 5 lakh bounty to nab persons involved in question leak. But advertisement is available even today on social media demanding money in exchange of leaked question,’ Ziauddin said.The government on Sunday formed a high-powered committee to monitor and investigate the allegations of question leak in the ongoing SSC exam and the bounty.Technical and madrassah education division secretary Md Alamgir, chief of the committee, said that they were preparing terms and reference of the committee and would begin work soonAllegations of question leak, one after another, in Primary Education Completion exams after Class-V, Junior School Certificate exams after Class-VIII, Higher Secondary Certificate and SSC Examination after Class-X surfaced ahead of the exams in 2017.Academicians said that question paper leaks one after another raised serious questions about the credibility of exams while the government’s denial was making the menace worse. ‘The denial means that you are somehow covering up the heinous act,’ former Dhaka Universit English professor Syed Manzoorul Islam said. ‘People who are engaged in question leak will feel more encouraged,’ he observed.Dhaka-based Obhibhabak Oikya Forum president Ziaul Kabir Bulu alleged that the government lacked will to stop question leak.‘The government has decided to keep all coaching centre closed but many are still operating in Dhaka,’ he also alleged.Educationists have been calling for a ban on coaching centres and private tuition by teachers and raising the standard of classroom teaching.Anti-Corruption Commission in December had sent a set of recommendations to the education ministry asking it to shut the coaching centres as they were one of the potential sources of question leak in public exams.A Transparency International Bangladesh study of August 2015 found that 63 question papers of public examinations were leaked in four years. The study also blamed coaching centres along with other factors for question leak.